THE HEAVENLY COLOUR
[p. 108] THE HEAVENLY COLOUR
Colossians 2: 13 - 19; Numbers 15: 22 - 41
I desire, in the first instance, to say a word in regard to the books of the Old Testament. I do not think that we get in them the revelation of what is purely heavenly, and yet “they are written for our admonition”; they are written, one might say, with a heavenly people in view.
It is one thing to see the revelation of what is in nature and privilege purely heavenly, and another to see the walk of a heavenly people through the wilderness. For instance, in the prophecies of Balaam referred to yesterday, the people of God are contemplated in the wilderness. Balaam looked upon them from above, from God; he saw them with the eye of the Spirit, but he looked upon them in the wilderness.
Just refer for an instant to the book of Leviticus. The subject treated there is that of approach to God; and that which comes out in the early part of the book is of the greatest importance, namely, the offering of Christ, in its various aspects, which is laid as the foundation in the soul of the believer. That is the great idea in the beginning: but you do not get the revelation of purely heavenly privilege; so far from it, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is that “The way into the holiest ... was not yet made manifest”. Yet we have Aaron and his sons, and the whole question of approach to God; the death of Christ in its various aspects laid as foundation in the soul of the one that approaches. For acceptance, fellowship and every blessing, I begin with the offering of Christ. That offering is the foundation of every blessing one experiences down here, whether it be acceptance or anything else. I quite admit we get the day of atonement; the great day of reconciliation comes out, but with the testimony — “that the way into the holiest ... was not yet made manifest”.
[p. 109] I come to another point in Numbers. Numbers is the walk of a heavenly people through the wilderness, and God’s provision for it. Many things are found there which are not in Leviticus: for instance, the numbering of the people; the people are taken account of; the rod of priesthood, the water of separation, and so on; God’s provision for a heavenly people where they need to be supported by priesthood, and are in danger of contracting defilement.
But for the exposition of heavenly blessing I must go to where the heavenly things are revealed; and before speaking of things connected with the walk of a heavenly people, I first have to make out what is heavenly. That has led me to the chapter in Colossians.
The principles that come out in Numbers 15 are most important in this day. We get two things brought into juxtaposition — the worst and the best; and the worst has to be met by the best. Nothing short of the best will meet the worst. I often think the millennium will not present the same contrast as now; evil will be repressed and its power set aside; there will not be the same character of things as now. This is a very great day, the day of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can transcend the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is here, so we get the principle with regard to believers, that the good figs are very good and the bad very bad. If the flesh comes out in the believer it comes out in a way worse than anywhere. I do not think the flesh comes out in its naked, terrible character anywhere as it does in the saints. The good figs are indeed very good, the bad very bad. These two things are brought into contrast in this chapter in Numbers. The spirit of lawlessness on the one hand, the very worst thing in the world, which puts aside everything of God; and, on the other hand, what I may call the heavenly colour. In order to steer clear of the principle of lawlessness, what one needs to bring down into the details of life, and those nearest the earth, is the heavenly colour. The Israelites were to stone the [p. 110] man who gathered sticks on the sabbath day. It was lawlessness. It is brought in as an example of presumptuous sin. If they sinned through ignorance the trespass might be met, whether as to the nation or the individual; but in regard to high-handed sin, there was no offering at all. It was impossible for God to go on with it. This man who gathered sticks was to be stoned; he had made light of the sign of the covenant between God and His people in careless self-will. It is just the lawless will of man at work; it does not come out here in anything very flagrant or immoral, but in putting aside the ordinance of God, the sign of the covenant. Then comes the direction that they were to wear a fringe in the borders of their garment, and in the fringe a riband of blue. The heavenly colour was to come down with them, a heavenly people (of which, of course, we have here only the figure) going through the wilderness, to the details that come nearest the earth, the borders of their garments.
I will first say a word about what is heavenly, and then as to the application of the heavenly principle to the details of life down here; for I do not think we can apprehend the latter unless we are clear in our minds as to what is heavenly. What is heavenly is, as to us, new creation — God’s workmanship. It is not a patch up of what man is down here; it is not simply a man going to heaven when he dies. The heavenly is the new thing that is come in. That is what led me to Colossians 2: 13. It is a wonderful passage. It is the part of the epistle in which the truth of Ephesians is brought into Colossians; and we see it is all God’s work and God’s work in us — what is wrought in the believer, looked at from that standpoint as wholly the work of God. We have been quickened, “quickened ... together with Christ”, a truth peculiar to Paul. I would say a word about that, because I believe it to be a truth of the very highest moment for every one to understand. Every one accepts it, but there may be many who have not apprehended the force of being “quickened ... together with Christ”. It looks upon Christ in the place of death; Christ gone down into the place of death for the purposes of God. He is raised again from the dead, quickened in the power of the Spirit, quickened as Man into a new condition; the same divine Person, but quickened into a new condition; and the wonderful thing that comes Out is, we are quickened together with Him. I have a very poor idea of the force of it, but the thought is of the greatest moment. If quickened, we are quickened for God, so that in every way we may be agreeable to God; that we may be according to God in every sense, even as Christ is according to God. That is the idea to me of being quickened together with Christ; quickened for God by God’s own work. It is not a question of how I reach it experimentally; that is not brought in; it is wholly and entirely the work of God which has fitted me for Himself made me as agreeable to Him as Christ is agreeable to Him.
Another thing comes out in the passage — that every impediment that stood between God and the believer, or that could stand between God and the conscience of the believer, is removed. He has taken it all away — trespasses, the handwriting of ordinances which was against us, principalities and powers, everything which might have a power over the spirit of the believer has been spoiled by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, every obstacle completely removed. We are quickened together with Christ; we are before God now according to Christ — “quickened ... together with Christ”.
The next thing therefore that he brings out is “the body”. Why? How could we be united to Christ, joined to Christ, if we were not quickened together with Christ? It is the character of God’s work in regard to believers that He has quickened us together with Christ, that we might be associated in the pleasure of God with Christ. We are that purely and entirely by God’s own work, without a single word brought in as to how the [p. 112] soul reaches it in its history. It is all the work of God.
It is a blessed thing to think that we are here a company of believers, but how far do we enter into the truth that we are before God for His pleasure, according to His pleasure in Christ? There, by virtue of God’s work, and nothing short of that: God’s own power in raising Christ, quickening us, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, that we may be before God according to His mind. We get expressions analogous to it elsewhere. “As he is, so are we in this world”. That is the way God looks upon us. Of course, what He looks upon is the result of His blessed work. It has not come out yet into display, because we are here in the wilderness still; but it is all involved in the thought of being quickened together with Christ. It must go on even to our bodies. Of course, it is only faith that realises it; it is all true and real before God, the fruit of His blessed work, and it involves likeness to Christ in glory. I refer to that to shew we are heavenly. We are heavenly. It is a great thing to get hold of that: “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly”. And we are heavenly by God’s own work, taken out of death as Christ was raised, taken out of spiritual death to be before God in the life and liberty of Christ. To be before God agreeable to Him as Christ is agreeable to Him, “quickened ... together with Christ”, quickened to be before Him in such sort as to be members of the body of Christ.
I now turn back to Numbers 15. The thought is brought out of provision for ignorant failure. No doubt it has reference to the future history of Israel; and in regard to presumptuous sin, sin done with a high hand, the people who do not accept the offering of Christ, wilful sin being imputed to them, they will be cut off. Our lot is cast in a day where we see the spirit of lawlessness rampant in the world. People calmly put aside all that is of God. It is not simply that they do not like it,
[p. 113] but a spirit of lawlessness is abroad which puts aside everything, one thing after another that used to be recognised, in this country at least, as of God. We are fast going on to the time of antichrist. Thank God, we shall never be here to see that time! But we see the spirit at work on every hand which will set aside every ordinance of God. This man who gathered sticks did not do anything outwardly very gross, but it was the will of man making light of the sign of the covenant between God and His people. The point for us is, how is this to be guarded against? If you live in the midst of evil you are in danger of being infected by it. See, for instance, the Cretans (as we read in Titus). At Corinth people lived in a state of luxury and self-indulgence. The believers there were in danger of being carried away with the same thing. If we see these principles at work we are in danger of being poisoned by them. What I would bring before you is the antidote, and I believe the first thing is to accept that I am heavenly, and heavenly by God’s own work. Then what is the kind of thing that becomes me down here? I will tell you in a single word: God’s will. What does not become me? My will. That is the thing most unbecoming in the saints of God.
I believe the very circumstances through which a christian is called to pass, and the relationships in which he is set, are all parts of God’s discipline to make him practically pleasing to Himself. I am not sent here to be prosperous in the world. It is all a question of the will of God. I am here for that, and I recognise it. I would not care to lift my finger to gain a worldly advantage, simply because I know I am here for God’s will. I would not employ a patron to gain an advantage for me, because I am here for God’s will, and in the circumstances most suitable for it. I am here to yield my body an instrument for God’s service, that in my body His will may be expressed. I bring His will into everything. I would not push my business. I am there,
[p. 114] and I fulfil it diligently; I bring God’s will into it, and I am happy, and my spirit is quiet and at rest because I am conscious of being in the place of God’s will. People fret against their circumstances sometimes, and wish to change them, and they do not better them. They do not find themselves in a better position for themselves or God’s people. I do not think people ought to be in a hurry to change their circumstances, or to change their location. I am here, not to have any part in the lawlessness all around, but to bring the heavenly principle into every detail of life down here. Whether ye eat or drink, or “whatsoever ye do, ... do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him”. The question with me is not — Is there any harm in this or that? I am here in this world for the will of God; I take up even the relative duties of life in the same way. I bring the heavenly colour into all the details of life down here; but the one thing that enables me to do it is the consciousness by the Spirit of God that I am heavenly by the work of God. I realise that, in faith, and bring the colour of it into the things down here. I do the same things an unconverted man would do. He has his natural ties, so have I; he has his business; I have my business; but he acts on human principles of prudence; I bring the heavenly principle into the lowest details. I believe that is the antidote to what I may call the dreadful principle of lawlessness that is rampant in the world.
To begin with, we are heavenly by the work of God. He “has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light”. He has made us suitable for Himself in association with Christ, by His work which raised Christ from the dead, and has quickened us together with Him.